This application incorporates by reference Taiwanese application Serial No. 89106926, Filed Apr. 13, 2000.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a portable scanning apparatus, and more particularly to a portable scanning apparatus including a scanner and a sheet feeder which can be combined with or detached from the scanner alternatively.
2. Description of the Related Art
These days, image-capturing devices play an important role in multimedia and computer advancements. At the same time, manufacturers are making great efforts to develop scanners with a relatively lower cost, lower power dissipation, and featured with easy manipulation.
For example, a universal serial bus (USB) powered scanner is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,956,158 and 5,864,410. Although there have been many improvements in the design of this scanner, the cost is relatively higher than conventional scanners owing to its design complexity.
Currently, there exists two portable scanners on the market, one is the Attache scanner shipped by the Antec company while the other is the PetiScan by the NEC company. The Attache scanner is sheet-fed only so that it can only be used to scan papers but not books. The Petiscan is a flatbed scanner which occupies larger space than the sheet-fed one and so the Petiscan scanner has more inconvenience in usage.
It is therefore a primary object of the invention to provide a portable scanning apparatus which uses a USB line connected to a host and a battery as a power supply without additional electric wires, thereby largely reducing the cost. In addition, the scanning apparatus can be alternatively sheet-fed or hand-held as needed.
In order to accomplish the object of the present invention, a scanning apparatus is provided which includes a scanner and a sheet feeder. The scanner is connected to a host by a USB line which serves as the power supply for the scanner. The scanner includes an applied or application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), for controlling the scanning apparatus, and an image sensing module for receiving image signals from the scanned document and inputting the image signals to the ASIC. The battery powered feeder includes a motor for driving a rolling wheel of the feeder to deliver the document. The feeder can be selectively combined with the scanner so that the document to be scanned can be delivered by the feeder, or detached from the scanner so that it can be delivered by hand.